Zucchini & Rice Patties with Spinach-Yogurt Sauce

This is one of my favorite ways to use up leftover grains and bits of vegetables that are left in my fridge. The recipe is great because it's takes on a different character every time I make it. The grain is sometimes different--quinoa, millet, short grained rice, leftover risotto. The vegetable is whatever is the fridge that I'm trying to use up--summer squashes, dark leafy greens like spinach, kale or chard, finely chopped broccoli. The cheese changes depending on what's in my fridge--goat, Parmesan, feta, Manchego, queso fresco. The herb is whatever I happen to have. In the winter it tends to be rosemary, but in the spring and summer when a variety of fresh herbs are available, it can be almost anything. This particular iteration uses long grain brown rice, dill, summer squash (mostly zucchini) and a bit of crumbled goat cheese.

Baked Eggs with Greens and Spicy Yogurt Sauce

Right before transferring to a plate and adding the sauce.

The best part about summer vacation, even if it's just a week long, is being able to sleep in and then make yourself a fantastic, eggy breakfast. During the school year breakfast rotates between a couple of different options each morning: oatmeal (either steel-cut or rolled oats) with a spoonful of nut butter and some fresh or dried fruit, yogurt with granola, fruit and some sort of liquid sweetener (honey, agave or maple syrup), or yogurt with fruit and a slice of whole-grain bread with nut butter. There's the occasional scramble or every once in a great while, a stop at the deli by school for egg, muenster cheese and tomato on whole wheat toast. But I never do anything so decadent and time-consuming as baked eggs. Let alone baked eggs with yogurt sauce.

Sweet and Salty Raspberry Cake

The finished (salvaged) product

So, I'm not what you might call "detail oriented" or "organized". I believe I've mentioned this before. D is continually amazed by the things that I lose in plain sight, drop on my shirt while eating, or don't notice that I've dropped on the floor. He's also amazed (or maybe more annoyed now that he's spent a while living with me) at my ability to sweep the floor but get distracted before sweeping the debris into a dustpan and throwing it away or my ability to take the garbage out of the garbage can and put the bag by the door, but not manage to take it downstairs before I go to work. I knew it was bad--I'm the kind of person who loses pens because I've tucked them behind my ear; my mom loves to tell the story about how I never managed to kick a soccer ball my entire first year on the town's girl's soccer league because I was too busy standing at mid-field staring off into space and chewing on my ponytail (which is why, after a while, the coach insisted that my mother french braid my hair). But it's really starting to get out of control. It's affecting dessert. And that is just not OK. Luckily, dessert was not a total failure. It was just an, um,  interesting experience.

Quinoa and Summer Squash Salad

Such a busy Sunday! Pride March, drinks with friends, and an end-of-school year BBQ. There was a little snag though--the BBQ was a pot luck and I was going to be standing in the sun in Manhattan for most of the afternoon. Eek! There was no way I was going to buy something--not with several pounds of produce in my fridge. I couldn't bake something using the raspberries, because I was out of sugar (although, I've been just eating them straight out of the 1/2 pint box and they're delicious just like that). But armed with quinoa in the cupboard, lots of summer squash, access to a student lounge at NYU with a refrigerator, and the knowledge that almost every corner grocery in lower Manhattan sells good cheese, I was all set.

Kohlrabi and Zucchini Salad with Arugula

Those little light green half-circles are kohlrabi

As I mentioned yesterday, I have never eaten kohlrabi before, let alone cooked with it. Although some googling made me hope I'd get more because it would be a great excuse to buy Plenty. I've wanted the book for a long time because the recipes look amazing, but having to make something with kohlrabi more than once would justify the purchase. I've never before found a cookbook with one kohlrabi recipe, let alone two. Of course, I've never tried to find one before either. I found a bunch of ideas online, but nothing that used all of the ingredients I had on hand (except for this empanada recipe, which I'd love to try sometime--I just didn't have the energy for it tonight). I did see the kohlrabi often paired with zucchini and/or dill and I had both of those things.

Week 3

More salad greens! Looks like I'll be trying to find even more non-salad ways to use lettuce... I'm definitely making summer rolls again.


This week's share: 
1/2 lb. mesclun mix
1 bunch of Kohlrabi
1 head of lettuce
1 bunch of dill
1 bunch of spinach
1 lb. zucchini/squash
1 bunch of arugula
1 1/2 pints raspberries

Beet Green Omelet with Dill Yogurt Cheese

Mmm...greens.

Yesterday was not exactly the healthiest eating day I've ever had. It was the last day of school and there was an end of year party at the bar down the street. A pomegranate margarita, crostini with goat cheese and mushrooms, a vodka tonic, crostini with blue cheese and caramelized onions, another vodka tonic, and some delicious spinach and cheese dumplings. You see a theme here? Alcohol and cheese. And this, mind you, was at about 1 PM. I went home, drank lots of water, and then went to meet my friend Becky for dinner at Veselka, where I had some perogies (one arugula and goat cheese, one sauerkraut and mushroom, one potato and one sweet potato). Then we went on to a Planned Parenthood fundraiser (Sex Ed Trivia Night), where I had a couple beers. Then home to sleep. Overall it was a good day, but this morning I needed a dose of healthy food.

Black Bean, Sugar Snap Pea and Potato Salad with Smoked Gouda

Sometimes when you mess with a classic, you get something delicious

I am a big fan of potato salads. I love the traditional mayonnaise-y variety, mustardy French varieties, herby pesto vinaigrette varieties. I like them all. Except if you put dill pickle relish in them. Why do people ruin perfectly good potato salad with dill pickles? But, I digress. Sometimes, however, just plain potato salad, no matter what it's dressed with, just doesn't cut it. If I want a main course salad that involves potatoes (like I was craving the other night), it needs to have veggies and protein. It needs to be substantial without being heavy. This means going into the kitchen and experimenting.

Rhubarb Oat Squares, Sparkling Rhubarb-Ginger Lemonade and other Rhubarb Delights

Rhubarb-Ginger Oat Square...half eaten. They were really good.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had cravings for asparagus in early spring, or all of spring because it was so slow to appear at the market this year and then so quick to disappear once it got there. On all of those mornings when I woke up before most reasonable people get up on a Saturday morning, I would console myself by buying rhubarb. Those magenta stalks were a poor replacement for the asparagus I was dreaming about all the previous night, but they sufficed as an edible sign that spring had actually, finally come. That said, I probably wasn't as excited to see rhubarb on the CSA distribution list as I would have normally been. At one point this spring D commented, "Wow, rhubarb goes in everything."

Tatsoi Panzanella with Spicy Peanut Dressing

Tatsoi

I had planned to make something sort of complicated tonight. Then I got home, ran through the park, to the gym, and took a Bosu class. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Bosu, it's like half of one of those balance balls. Sometimes you use it like a step, bringing back fond memories of 10th grade gym with Mrs. Sadowski, sometimes you try to balance (on one leg) on it while lifting light weights, sometimes you use it to support your legs while you do modified push-ups, and sometimes you do way too many crunches on it. For the first ten minutes I kept thinking: "Wow. I'm really not that out of shape. This is fun." Which quickly turned into: "I'm going to fall. Oh God, please please please don't let me fall. OK. I've got my balance. This is kind of fun." Which became: "&^#@ no. I am not doing one more tricep curl while standing on that thing--Wow. This music is really catchy." So it was exhausting, but fun. When I got home I was in no mood for serious cooking, and I'm trying to keep a policy of green salads only for lunch. I was a tiny bit sore. This morning I am more sore...and I'm going to do it all again tonight. So I decided to cook a recipe that required no more work than washing some veggies and watching some other things in the oven to make sure they didn't burn.

Interesting Ways to Use Salad Greens #3: The Summer Roll

The final meal of the day, and I've incorporated lettuce yet again. I even tried out a bit of the totsoi, although mixed in with all the other veggies, it was hard to tell what it actually tastes like.

The thing about summer rolls is, once you start making them, you need to finish making them and then eat them quickly. Rice paper is tricky. That said, in the rush to prep and eat the spring rolls, I neglected to take pictures. When I make them again (which, given all the salad greens that come with this CSA, I'm sure I will), I will remember to take pictures and then update this post, but really did eat lettuce at all three meals today and I'm going to document it.

Interesting Ways to Use Salad Greens #2: The Lettuce Wrap

More lettuce. And a new salad spinner.

Because of an unfortunate experience I had with some dirt in my salad last week--I really thought I washed that arugula well, but apparently not well enough and with some soggy greens that the kitchen towel just didn't get dry enough, I broke down and bought a salad spinner. I used to think that salad spinners took up valuable kitchen space and were unnecessary. However, now I am converted. My lettuce for my lunch was dry, crisp and grit free. Plus, they now make a collapsible salad spinner. It flattens to less than 2" thick and fits inside your cupboard. Brilliant--especially when you have limited cabinet space. I'm now ready to tackle whatever gritty farm produce comes my way.

Interesting Ways to Use Salad Greens #1: The Super-Skinny Omelet

So much lettuce, so little time

Remember yesterday when I was really worried that I would be eating nothing but salads all week? I've decided to try to work those greens into every meal today. It will be like a day-long Iron Chef challenge. Although, I doubt I'll get the lettuce into any dessert items. Maybe I'll figure out a way by the end of the summer.

Week 2

Look at all those salad greens!

With the exception of the pouring rain yesterday (which thankfully subsided in time for us to see All's Well That Ends Well in Central Park), the weather has been quite nice this week. According to the newsletter this week from the farm, they're mostly back on track. That was certainly clear from the large bag full of veggies I brought home today. As you can see from the picture above, I am going to be eating A LOT of salads this week ladies and gentlemen. The good news is, we got one of D's favorite foods this week: cilantro.

Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy with Baked Teriyaki Tofu

I really do need a better camera. I promise it looked better in person.

I never thought I actually liked bok choy, so I was a bit nervous to have to eat it this week. It's always been the strange, annoying almost celery-like thing taking up space that could be used by good vegetables in my Chinese takeout when I was a kid. It was weirdly crunchy and slimy at the same time. I generally just ate around it. I suppose I could have just given it to our downstairs neighbors, but I'm supposed to be eating all of these CSA veggies, trying new things, learning about seasonality--so I went for it.

Wednesday (or what I did with the arugula)

Arugula and Black Bean Salad

I ran home from work last night, threw together a quick dinner, and then headed back out to see my former students graduate from 8th grade. I'm so proud of all of them. But again with the: "Oh no! How do I eat all of these vegetables!" This is where getting better at meal planning will start coming in handy. I actually prepped parts of this meal the day before. That's right. The day before. And I did all the dishes before I went to bed, like a real adult. (Yes, OK, I shouldn't get rewarded for being nearly 30 and acting responsibly, but come on. That's really good).

Japanese Turnips and Tofu with Miso Butter and Soba

Japanese turnips with tofu and miso butter

One of the best things about summer in NYC is outdoor theater. It ranges from chasing actors through a park as they perform Restoration comedies, to those people in strange hats giving you a "theater experience" outside of the Bedford Ave L stop, to taking the ferry to Governor's Island with the cast of Henry V, to New York's most famous outdoor theater experience, Shakespeare in the Park. There are several amazing things about Shakespeare in the Park besides the lure of seeing Al Pacino or Meryl Streep live on stage for free (although, there's no one whose name I recognized in this season's line up). Normally nocturnal New Yorkers get up at the crack of dawn to wait in line for free tickets. They bring lawn chairs and blankets and books and games and snacks. While they're in line, people who normally walk down the street with blinders on or shove each other on and off of subway cars, chat with each other and make friends. There used to even a guy who rented chairs and umbrellas, and dragged around some sort of gas-powered blender in a red wagon (maybe I'm making up the wagon part). He offered smoothies in the morning while people wait for tickets and maragaritas in the afternoon while they picnicked before the performance.

You can skip all of this camaraderie and just sign up for the online lottery (or virtual line). D won Monday night. The point of this little description before I launch into what a Japanese turnip is and what in the name of all that is holy one does with a Japanese turnip (and more importantly, what I ate for dessert), is that I spent the entire time from when we found out we won the online lottery to when the performance started worried about how this affected my meal plans for the week and if I would be able to finish all of those veggies before the next share comes on Saturday. This is what a CSA does to you: "Measure for Measure at the Delacorte Theater? That's fantastic, baby--but the arugula is going to get wilty if we don't eat it soon. Can we do it on a night when I have time to go home and pack a picnic?"

Sunday (or what I did with the garlic scapes)

Garlic Scapes...according to my boyfriend they taste green.

My boyfriend and I have very different eating habits. I love plates filled with many varieties of vegetables cooked in creative ways, whole-grain breads, all sorts of fruit, eggs, tangy plain yogurt and creamy, flavorful cheeses. D like challah rolls, Scratch Bread Stick Bread, Parmesan cheese, cilantro, naan, garlic knots, smoothies, cookies and BBQ chicken pizza (there are actually many other things he likes, but he's a very picky eater). When we first started dating, we actually had an agreement that I could make him try one new food per meal. I've gotten used to the fact that we may eat dinner together, but we don't always eat the same thing, and that no matter what dish I lovingly prepare, he will cover it in Parmesan cheese. Every weekend though, we try to make at least one dish that both of us will eat (or do something like the pizzas mentioned in the previous post).

Saturday (or what I did with the rapini)

Rapini and Roasted Onion Pizza (the final product)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the weather this spring in the Greater NYC area has been a bit odd--cold and rainy one day, nearing 90 the next. In the past two weeks, this seems to have happened a lot. This Thursday the high was nearly 100. It made our apartment unbearable.

People come to our apartment and fawn over our skylights--"You just get such amazing light!"--and the charming brownstone facade. (For those of you who aren't New Yorkers--we're a bit obsessed with with light, as in "Yes, I pay $1800 a month to share a 300 square foot studio apartment, but it gets great light! The light really makes it feel bigger.") But, here's the thing about the large, light-filled, top-floor of a lovely, late-19th Century landmark brownstone apartment that we inhabit: in the summer all of those things make it like the inside of kiln. The light pouring in through the skylights becomes trapped heat--like one of those camping ovens you would make at Girl Scout camp--the brownstone holds heat, and heat rises. Remember how your grandma's attic felt in the summer? That's what it feels like in here most of the time from June to September. All of this has led to a battle continuing discussion in my apartment regarding the air conditioner. Generally it involves D giving some very sound, scientifically based reasons why the air conditioner doesn't need to go in the window yet, and me whining that I'm hot. It goes something like this:

Week 1

My 1st week's share

We got an email last week warning us that the farmer's had experienced a rough spring. I knew that already. It was cold and rainy here, punctuated by periods of unseasonably hot weather, and then dropping back down again. The farmer's markets were kind of sad. Everything was still cold-storage potatoes and onions, a few leeks that had been in the ground over the winter (those are the best ones), and a smattering of fresh herbs. The amount of time I spent stalking asparagus this spring probably boarders on pathetic. Seriously--for three consecutive weeks I set my alarm for 7:45 AM hoping to beat the what the guy at my favorite farmer's stand described as the "mad-rush of people dying for some early season asparagus". Only twice I was successful, and only by getting to the market at 8AM, right when they opened. So, my first week provided a bit less than I had hoped. Some of it is a little beaten up by the hail the farm experienced two weeks ago, but I'm hoping it still tastes delicious.

Welcome/About

I got the idea to start a blog in a kind of silly way. I work in a school as a Reading Specialist and was talking to one of the classroom teachers about her reading and writing goals for her students. She had never written SMART goals before and was having some difficulty. Having had to write them for a while, I was able to rattle off goals for her students after a brief description of what their reading and writing was like. Afterward she said, "Do you write? Because you're a really good writer."